


How to Tie a Knot

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BDSM, Blindfolds, Bondage, M/M, Marriage Disguised as a One Night Stand, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 01:26:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18084764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: In which Laurent apparently isn't just the world's brattiest sub, and the boys are practically planning out their whole lives together on the very first night they meet.





	How to Tie a Knot

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow this ended up being a BDSM fic that fades out before the sex, of all things. Yep, I don't know either. But it's another one of those snippets that I started a while back and could never be bothered continuing into the longer story it was supposed to be, so I'm afraid a blue-ball ending is the only way it's getting posted at all. Sorry about that. On the plus side, it still does manage to fill my 'Dom/Sub', 'Bondage' and 'Blindfolds' King Bingo squares.

Damen wasn't having much success with this. He was far more accustomed to using various kinds of cuffs on his partners when they were in the mood for restraint. Ropes and laces and the like were too fidgety for him to bother with usually, so his experience with that sort of thing was admittedly minimal. But he'd made the mistake of deciding that the silk ties would be more appealing in this case. And the blue fabric winding around pale skin did offer quite the visual. If only Damen could actually get it fixed in place properly.

A frustrated noise finally escaped Damen's throat unbidden. Allowing his partner to hear that he was aggravated was probably a mistake, especially this early in the scene. It had been obvious from the moment they'd met and Damen had received an almost (but not quite) dismissive once-over from calculating blue eyes that this wasn't the kind of man in front of whom Damen should be showing anything that might be perceived as a sign of weakness.

"What's wrong? Can't even manage to tie a knot? How disappointing."

"Well it would probably be simpler if you would just stay still for long enough to let me tighten it, wouldn't it?" Damen huffed.

"Oh, did you somehow get the impression that I'm going to go out of my way to make this easy?" Laurent regarded him tauntingly, the slight upward quirk of his lips completing the effect. "If it's simplicity you want, maybe I should just lie back and list off instructions for you to follow to the letter all night." 

There was something oddly intriguing about the thought of Laurent verbally expressing what he wanted Damen to do to him in detail, actually. Damen had already heard evidence that Laurent's mouth was capable of producing far dirtier words than Damen would have guessed just by looking at him.

But any interest Damen might have had in the idea was quickly quashed when Laurent additionally mused, "In fact, I'm sure there's a 'Domming for Dummies' guide out there somewhere. It might even have some obviously much-needed diagrams of how to tie a standard knot. Shall I google it for you?" 

He was almost undoubtedly only being so condescending to get a rise out of Damen. But just because Damen was aware of that didn't mean it wasn't successful.

"You could always just _make_ me stay still," suggested Laurent. "Or are those muscles for show?"

"If you wanted to wrestle, you should have said so."

"Hmm. Maybe next time."

Damen had recently become so accustomed to losing interest in his partners after just a night or two that it rarely occurred to him to purposely save something to be discovered later, during a 'next time' that as likely as not would never come. But even though the suggestion that this wouldn't be the only time they were together this way was unexpected, Damen found it wasn't actually unwelcome. Or unlikely. Damen might have only known him for a few hours, but already Damen couldn't really imagine growing bored with this man any time soon. Laurent was nothing if not interesting.

Damen did finally manage to successfully tie the strip of silk firmly in place around Laurent's second wrist despite Laurent making no attempt to stop writhing around like he was struggling, though it couldn't have been more obvious that he'd only being difficult rather than actually trying to get free of Damen's grasp. Laurent clearly enjoyed demonstrating his recalcitrance at every turn. That wasn't the type Damen usually went for, but in this case it made Damen desperately want to put Laurent in his place. Which was, of course, the point.

"If you're going to make everything that difficult, it'll be past dawn before I even get to touch you properly," Damen warned.

"So? I'm reliably informed you can supposedly last more than long enough to manage that."

'Reliably informed'? In the year since Jokaste had mentioned the existence of such places and Damen had begun to seek them out (albeit in a different capacity than Jokaste had obviously been hoping for), Damen knew that he'd become quite well-known on the club scene, and was often the topic of gossip there. Especially given the number of full-time subs who seemed to be looking to impress him and secure themselves a place at his feet (and, more importantly he was sure, a place in close proximity to Damen's bank account). But as far as Damen was aware, tonight had been Laurent's first time in any of the clubs that Damen frequented, and Laurent had barely spoken to anyone there except Damen himself and Lazar, with whom Laurent had arrived and who had almost immediately introduced the two of them. That meant Laurent had probably gone out of his way to specifically ask Lazar about Damen, or at the very least to actually pay attention to whatever information Lazar had offered. That idea pleased Damen immeasurably.

"But I suppose it takes a lot more stamina when your lover actually makes you work for it, doesn't it? You seem to have quite a reputation for liking what the idiots at that club would probably call 'slaves'. I fully intend to draw you out of that boring little comfort zone of mindless submission."

There was a difference between mindlessness and complete trust, Damen thought, and he might have argued that point under different circumstances. But he couldn't really argue that his recent encounters hadn't been somewhat boring, otherwise he wouldn't have been so easily distracted from them all the time. There was probably a reason why Damen hadn't just written Laurent off as not his type from the moment Laurent opened his mouth, even though Laurent _was_ very different from his norm. 

Even so. Laurent wasn't so different from the rest that Damen wasn't sure that he could still handle him far more easily than Laurent seemed to think he was going to be able to. So Damen said, supremely confident, "You say that as though you're going to completely blow my mind, like I'm some novice at this." 

"And you don't think I can change everything for you?"

"I doubt it."

"Not even if I ordered you to kneel for me?"

Damen blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, have I shocked you?"

Yes, he had. But Damen wasn't about to admit as much when Laurent said it as though he'd managed to get one-up on Damen in proving his point. "It's only confusion. Or rather, I think _you're_ the one who's confused. I'm the Dom here. You're the sub."

Though the way Laurent had looked at Damen when they'd first met in the club had admittedly been so intense that a casual observer could have been forgiven for thinking that Laurent would certainly be capable of making Damen kneel for him instead of the reverse. 

"Are you really _that_ unobservant? No wonder you've ended looking for excitement in all the wrong places. I think you'll find that I'm actually a switch. And so are you, sweetheart." Laurent delivered the endearment almost mockingly, where Damen himself usually would have spoken the same word more like a caress, intended as a reward to his sub-of-the-moment for good behaviour. Not that he'd likely ever be talking to Laurent that way. "Why else do you think Lazar went out of his way to introduce us? He has an exceptional eye for these things. Though actually I can't believe he's the only one in that club who's noticed it, given how entirely obvious you are about it."

Damen had assumed that the reason why Lazar had decided he really needed to introduce Laurent to Damen was because Laurent looked quite a lot like the one person with whom Damen had ever carried on a more extended relationship (except that Laurent was somehow even more alarmingly beautiful than Jokaste), and seemed to have certain personality traits in common with her as well. He hadn't thought it was because Laurent shared Jokaste's desire to be the one in the more overt position of power. Damen would have thought that Lazar was aware of how that relationship had ultimately ended because of that, after all.

"I really don't ever sub, though," Damen protested. 

"Not yet. But you will soon enough, I think."

"No, I mean, I'm not just in denial that it's a possibility. I've been with a Domme before. I didn't particularly enjoy that particular part of my relationship with her." 

"Then I would say that she mustn't have been very good at figuring out how you like it. Or maybe she was just selfish and preferred doing whatever she personally enjoyed over making it good for her sub. Which, I'm sure you'll agree, isn't what a real Dominant would do. On the other hand, you'll find that _I'm_ certainly more than capable of figuring out what you like. And I'm not as short-sighted as she must have been; I have every intention of making sure you enjoy it enough to come back for more."

When Laurent said it like that, Damen did have to admit that it had an effect on him. Still.

"Are you planning on trying to dominate me like that?" Damen asked, gesturing at the restraints around Laurent's wrists. Damen wouldn't have tied them there if he'd thought that was where this might be going.

"Why not? You think I can't get you to follow my orders this way?"

Could he? Damen got the impression that if anyone could, it would be Laurent. But did Damen even really want him to try? He would have said no without thinking, usually. Nothing about Laurent was 'usual', though.

"Don't break your brain thinking about it too hard for now," Laurent said after a long pause in which Damen didn't answer him. "My intention wasn't to come here and immediately force you into something you aren't prepared for. I realise that when you invited me here it was on the understanding that I would sub for you. I fully intend to do that if you still want it. For tonight. I just want you to be aware from the outset that when you invite me to your home a second time –" 'when', not 'if', Damen noticed "– things may play out very differently. If you're entirely sure that you don't want that, you might as well untie me now and not waste either of our time."

Damen wouldn't have considered a night spent with Laurent to be a waste no matter what might have happened afterwards. But Laurent obviously felt differently. 

Damen definitely didn't move to free Laurent and send him on his way. In fact, he reached for another length of silk. He saw Laurent's eyes narrow in the moment before Damen passed the silk over them and behind Laurent's head.

"Blindfolding? I'm really going to have to introduce you to some more original ideas at some point, aren't I?"

Damen rolled his eyes even though Laurent could no longer see him do it.

Laurent recommenced squirming in place, though whatever mockery Laurent had levelled at Damen's knot-tying skills, Damen was satisfied that he wouldn't be able to break free of the straps binding his wrists to the bed frame without assistance. 

"Behave," Damen ordered, smacking his palm against one of Laurent's twisting thighs when its movement threatened to topple Damen from where he was sitting perched on the edge of the mattress.

"Will you whip me into submission if I don't?" 

"Only if you beg me very nicely," Damen assured him.

Laurent's tone was pointedly disinterested as he asked, "I don't believe it. You're all talk and no action so far. I hope you intend to actually _do_ something at some point."

Damen smiled, and though Laurent couldn't see the calculating expression while his eyes were covered, Damen had faith he would still detect it in the inflections of Damen's voice. He seemed to be perceptive like that, from Damen had so far observed of him. "What was that you were saying about stamina?"

Laurent caught his laughter quickly enough that it was obvious he hadn't intended Damen to hear it. Damen wanted to know when he had genuinely managed to amuse him, though. He wanted to make Laurent laugh helplessly, unable to contain it.

Damen really was on the hook with this one, wasn't he? 

For now, he was probably going to have to settle for reducing Laurent to a different kind of 'helplessness'. Or at least the perception of it, for in reality Laurent actually had most of the power here. Damen understood that far better now than he had the only other time he'd ever been on the other side of things.

What would it be like if Damen handed over the reins to Laurent, and shifted towards exerting that more subtle kind of power in a way that Damen didn't think he'd ever properly done before, even (or especially) with Jokaste?

It was an interesting thought. Perhaps Laurent really might have a point in that respect.

Surprisingly, Damen was really looking forward to finding out.


End file.
